The Athletic

Welcome to my first official look at the 2023 NHL Draft class. Each year at The Athletic, my draft rankings are rolled out in five instalments. There’s this first look, my preseason top 32 (August or September), my preliminary top 64 (November), my midseason top 64 (February) and my final top 100 (June). This list isn’t numbered like the four rankings that follow it, though. Instead, the players are slotted into tiers and sorted alphabetically within their groupings. That’s by design to reflect just how early we are in this process. Each year, we all get to feel a little bit older too. This time, you have to come to terms with the fact that the kids you’re about to read about are born in 2005 — and I have to come to terms with the fact that the 2023 draft will be the 10th that I’ve scouted.